Easter Bread

Family Heritage Easter Bread

I only make certain foods certain times of the year. I wait all year for my Easter Bread. The Easter bread is a delicious bread stuffed with two kinds of cheese, pepperoni and ham.

When my mother made this, she started the dough from scratch. I use the time saving method. I buy the frozen bread dough. She also used prosciutto ham. I use baked ham. There is less fat in baked ham.

15 oz. Ricotta Cheese
2 cloves of garlic chopped
8 oz. of Pepperoni
10 oz. sliced ham
2 tablespoons of Basil. chopped fresh or pesto
3 eggs, 1 egg is for coating the top of the dough.
2 1-lb. loaves of frozen Ready dough, defrosted
2 cups of mozzarella cheese

Decoration:
3 hardboiled, colored Easter eggs.

Mix Ricotta Cheese, 2 eggs, garlic and basil together and set aside.

Roll the 2 -1 lb. loaves out to about 1/4 inch think, approximately measuring 18 inches x 8 inches. 

Divide all the ingredients in half.  Spread the cheese mixture on top of the dough leaving a rim of 1/2 inch. Layer the ham, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. Start to roll the dough and sealing all the edges. Do this for both 1 lb. loaves of dough.  Once you have both loaves assembled, lay them side by side and gently twist by overlapping one over the other.  Spray a 12 inch round baking pan with a non stick spray. Then put the rolled dough in a lightly greased pan, making it into a circle. Scramble the remaining egg and spread over the top of the dough. This will give the bread a nice shinny coat. Cover the bread with a cloth and let it sit out and rise for 1/2 hour. Bake at 350 degrees for fifty minutes.

Cream all the ingredients together.

I used two one pound loves of dough.

Make sure your surface is well flowered so when it is time to roll the dough it will not stick to your table surface. 

Spread the cheese mixture over the top of the tough.  Go 1/2 inch in from the sides.

Start layering all your ingredients.

Once you have all the ingredients on the dough, you can start to roll it up.